Response to Seymour letter

Tom Seymour’s letter questioned moving the State Board for Career and Technical Education under North Dakota’s higher education system. Unfortunately, his basic premise was that the CTE Board is under the secondary system in our state, it is not. It is a separate independent board.

When the Legislature first created an independent State Board for Career and Technical Education back in 1955 and later refined it in 1967 to its present form, it helped to create a board that is focused on technical education. If the State Board for Career and Technical Education was under the secondary system or the higher education system, technical education would become just one of many initiatives and I believe lose focus.

The CTE Board works with and coordinates with, secondary and higher education. In fact, both the Chancellor and the Superintendent are members of the CTE Board along with the Director of Job Service, school superintendents and school board members. It is a broad-based board that supports and promotes technical education and workforce preparation that are critical to North Dakota. To find out more about Career and Technical Education visit http://www.nd.gov/cte/about/

Kutzer is director of the ND Department of Career and Technical Education.